HunterXHunter: The Dark Continent
by bluedog96
Summary: A year after the original expedition sets off, Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio meet up to go to the continent as a secondary expedition team under a different employer wanting to get in on the profits. However, the legends don't match up to the place they arrive in. Short, drabble-like chapters.
1. Contract

**Disclaimer: This will count for the entire piece of work because I don't feel like posting it over and over again. I'm sure this is covered in some terms thing I've read, but I never read those. **

**I do not own Hunter x Hunter or Naruto**

**Contract**

Per chance, Gon, having had his life saved by Killua and his younger sister, Alluka, came across a job. It was his first official hunt (the others having been a product of a whim on his part) that would pay out any form of actual money. Energetic as always, Gon accepted the job as a way to train. His short stint in the campaign against the Chimera Ants had shown him just how weak he truly was. He did not want to put anyone, especially Killua, in that position again.

Translucent brown eyes, which showed innocence and curiosity, scanned the paper in front of him. He ran hand through his spiky, black hair with slight confusion. "If this relic is so important for a contract, why isn't it being protected by the countries?" The businessman sighed at the twelve year old and adjusted his glasses.

"They don't have…the resources…to carry out the job. They can't retrieve it from its current location without getting blown to smithereens. They've tried for years, so now it's up to the hunters to carry out the job. Got it?"

"Hmm…Oh! I get it!" Gon picked up the pen and messily signed his signature on the paper. "Done!"

"Yes,yes. Hurry up and retrieve the jewel and you can receive the contract to go to the Dark Continent. Still, I'm surprised you even managed to find this place. The number of people who know about this location is one in a billion."

"Oh, that?" Gon smiled brightly. "It's all thanks to Killua and Kurapika! They were looking for the contract to so we could head over to the Dark Continent." _Of course, knowing the Zoldyck family helps._

"Why didn't you just join the huge expedition planned earlier?" Gon smirked and held a finger to his lips.

"It's a secret!"

"Y-yeah…" The businessman couldn't help but think about how naïve the kid was. _If he goes in alone, he's going to die for sure._

* * *

**_A/N: Okay, well this plot has been bothering me for a while. However, I just cannot be bothered to write full length chapters at the moment with revising Afterlife and writing a ton of essays for everything. So, this will be drabble-esque in length. On another note, I will be posting one chapter at least once a week. If I'm feeling generous or in the mood, I will post more often. So, thanks for those who read my stories even though I am terrible at replying and often going on hiatus._**


	2. Setting Off

**Setting Off**

"Are we all ready to go?" Leorio shouted to the assembled group. He could feel how tense everyone was. The other expeditions had gone missing and now they were headed straight into the same dangers.

"It won't be an easy journey for sure…" Kurapkia stated with worry.

"Don't worry! Killua and I won't let anything happen!"

"Gon, don't get carried away like last time. We won't have Alluka here to help you this time." Leorio chided the young boy's enthusiasm.

"I know that. This time I have Killua with me."

Gon watched as all his friends grinned at him. It was only just now, taking in the smiling faces of his friends, he realized how much the group had changed. Kurapika perhaps changed the least—the blonde male was still focused on defeating the Phantom Troupe, but he had learned the dangers of his recklessness during the incident in Yorknew City. Leorio, dressed in the typical business outfit and haircut, was still as brash and loud as ever, but there was no doubt that he had grown stronger. Then there was Killua, who had been by his side for several years. The boy had started to learn what it meant to have friends and family even if he occasionally fell into his assassin's nature.

"Gon? Why are you looking at me like that?" The silver-haired boy asked curiously.

"Nothing…I was just thinking about how much everyone's changed since we last saw each other."

"That's strange. Why are you thinking of this now?" His blue eyes blinked in confusion at Gon's out of character thoughts.

"It just occurred to me." Gon grinned brightly and gave thumbs up. "Let's get started!"

* * *

**I find I have a hard time with characterization, so if anyone thinks the characters are too OOC, I will do my best to fix it. (Of course, storyline progression has to occur though.)**


	3. Portal

**Portal**

"Are we all ready to go?" The group glanced at each other and nodded. They had all successfully gathered their contracts, and now all they had to do was wait until the winter solstice for the gate to reveal itself. There was a sudden shift in the air as the space itself distorted and twisted against the bindings that kept it sealed, and each person took out the contract. The paper burst into black flames and burned a three tomoe mark into their wrists.

For once, no one was startled by the development. They had all been briefed on the situation, and they understood the mark would vanish once they arrived back in their world. Nen flared as they prepared themselves for the leap into the plain, white doors.

"5!" Gon began.

"4!" Killua cheered.

"3!" Leorio gulped nervously.

"2." Kurapika counted down. They all chorused on the final number.

"1!" With an unspoken form of agreement, they all launched themselves into the door that opened in front of them. A myriad of colors swirled and twisted around them. Gon and Killua screamed with delight at the wild ride, laughing all the way. Leorio was screaming his head off and desperately holding onto his briefcase. Kurapika didn't say a word, intensely focused on the destination at the end of the warp hole.

* * *

** was giving me issues, so I will be double-posting these chapters.**


	4. Arrival

**Arrival**

Everyone was still inside the nether. They were going neither slow or fast, and Killua and Gon had quickly grown bored with the lack of scenery. So, the pair had taken up talking. Right now, Gon was curious about Killua's missing brother. He had set off a year earlier to explore the world and learn by himself. It was only recently that the famous child pair had reunited their team.

"Killua," Gon called to his best friend, "What happened to Alluka?"

"I asked for a favor from Nanika. I asked Nanika to come to me if the family tried to use her.

"I suppose that makes sense."

"Yeah. I couldn't keep running with her forever, so I had to find a new way to protect her from the family." They were silent for several more minutes.

"Hey Killua, we can train each other by racing to the finish!" Killua shot up with a mischievous smirk.

"You're on!" Gon and Killua flared their auras in preparation for takeoff. Leorio reached out for the pair to stop and warn them about the dangers.

"You guys wa-!" Leorio sighed in defeat. "They're gone…" Leorio turned to his left to ask Kurapika to go after them, and shouted in frustration. "Kurapika's abandoned me too! If they go through to fast they will be seriously injured!" He ground his teeth in frustration and adjusted his glasses and he flared his own aura. He pushed off in a vain attempt to catch up. _'It's not good if we get separated!'_

Leorio was forced to halt as a bright light, more radiant than any what he had encountered so far, blinded him making everything go white. The next thing he knew, he was sitting in a rocky outland. The others were nowhere to be seen.

"SERIOUSLY?!"


	5. The Third Hokage

**The Third Hokage**

"Third hokage!" Sarutobi Hiruzen, a wizened old man and leader of Konoha, turned to the Anbu Black Ops member that had shown up. The Anbu never came unless summoned meaning it was of utmost importance. The man with the dog face stared blankly at the leader waiting for a command.

_'Maybe if I make the window the front entrance, people will actually bother to come in the front door.'_ Sarutobi took a long drag from his pipe and let out a smoky breath. "What is your report, Dog?"

"Those monitoring the village found a pair of strange children outside the wall. To be exact, 'Two children dressed in foreign clothing appeared from a hole in the fabric of space itself,' is what the patrol told us. They managed to put up a fight, but they seemed to tire quickly for an unknown reason. It is reasonable to assume that they are members of a clan based on their abilities." Hiruzen raised in eyebrow in curiosity.

"Really? Give me an exact description of their appearance and abilities."

"Yes sir!" The Anbu saluted. "The two intruders are approximately fourteen years old; however, they possess unique abilities that put them at least on the level of a mid-level chunin. The first to attack was the silver-head child with wavy hair. His entire body sparked with electricity and our people could not keep up with him. Also, he had incredible resilience against any attack. His movements were well-coordinated which leads me to believe that he trained from an early age—a shinobi from Kumo most likely."

"I see. If Kumo gets involved in our affairs, we could have trouble on our hands. What about the other one?"

"The other was a spiky black-haired child. He was not as fast as Silver's, and we managed to pin him to the ground; however, his strength rivals that of the legendary sannin Tsunade. He broke the ground with a single punch, and his skin was even tougher than Silver's defense. His attacks were rougher and less skilled, but he was just as deadly. We managed to find an opening and distracted Silver with the endangerment of his partner long enough to knock him out."

"And you say this was all caused by a couple of children?" Hiruzen frowned. "I want a full report on my desk by tomorrow morning. Also, I need you to call for a seal master."

"A seal master?"

"I hate doing this, but I will do my best to steal any power from my enemies that I can." _'Even if that means a few manipulation seals.'_

"Yes sir!" The shinobi vanished and Hiruzen turned back to gazing at the sunset.

_'I'm getting too old for this…'_ he thought with dismay. It would be a shame to have to kill mere children if they were seen as a threat.


	6. Interrogation

**Interrogation**

Killua spat in the face of the scar faced man. He had seen more intimidating things in his life, and nothing these punks did in terms of "torture" could faze him one bit. With each lash of the whip or gouging of a knife, his insanity only rose. His assassin training told him to wait for an opening in order to flee and retrieve help. The other sides, nurtured by Gon's kindness, insisted that he save Gon and try to reason with the leader. So, he found himself choosing the middle path—wait for an opening to rescue Gon then flee.

The interrogator was experienced in his field. Spitting his face did not change his expression even as he wiped it off with a gloved hand. "I'm going to ask one more time. What village and clan are you from?"

"Let's suppose I do tell you. What's in it for us?"

"You don't have to undergo the mindreading test, and you don't have to receive torture anymore. If you don't tell us, then we'll just move onto your little friend over there that is still unconscious." He rubbed his chin with a grin. "Perhaps he'll be more receptive, hmm?"

Killua growled in anger but made no movement. He would just wait until the leader arrived. A whip cracked and he didn't flinch a single muscle. Compared to the iron chains he was beaten with on a daily basis as a child, this was, well, child's play. "Poison won't work either." Killua laughed with a singsong voice. "Really, this torture is nothing. Tell whoever your leader is to come down here. I just want to have a talk with him." Killua put on an innocent face. "I'll tell everything to him, I promise mister."

"I guess we are getting somewhere then." Ibiki turned away, unnerved by the child's resilience. Even veteran shinobi responded to the whip's sting with a flinch. It was reactive. This child, however, made no movement that he was in pain. "I'll call for the hokage. You wait here while I call for him." They weren't going to get anywhere with someone so familiar with torture.

"So Killua, can I stop pretending now?" There was the pop of the steel anchors breaking as the boy in green sat up with a yawn. There was more popping as Killua jumped down from the steel table.

"Yeah. It's boring down here. Let's go meet their leader."


	7. Kakashi

**Kakashi**

"Hey Killua, when do you think he'll be here?"

"Beats me. You would think he could bother being here on time." They had already been waiting four hours. Whoever their examiner was going to be, he would be sure to kill the guy the moment he had the chance. Being thirty minutes off schedule was fine but four hours? He better have a freaking good excuse.

"Hmm. Who do you think it'll be?"

"Probably just another old geezer. What do you think?"

"I don't know. Whoever it is, I hope they'll be strong. I'm excited to see what abilities they use here."

"Whatever happens, let's do this together then." He smirked and held up his fist.

"Right!" The two touched their knuckles together. They froze at the sound of swishing air and looked above them in surprise. A silver-haired man in a navy blue mask was peering down at them from above his particularly lecherous book.

_Make-out Paradise? I really do not want to see what that book is about,_ Killua thought in disgust. So, he decided to do what he always did to those he didn't like: tease them. "Hey, old man, you're blocking out the sun with that perverted book of yours."

He only now seemed to take notice of them and held out the book in front of him. In a deadpan voice he responded, "I'll have you know that this isn't perverted. It is the single most amazing romance series out there, written by lord Jiraiya himself." He and tucked the book away in his pocket. "Now then, it seems you two are the ones I am supposed to test."

"Heeey Killua! Don't you think that cloud looks sort of like an ant?"

"Huh?" Killua looked towards the cloud. "It really does."

"I wonder how Kite and the others are doing." Gon pondered.

"Who knows."

"What are you two doing?!" Kakashi usually had a lot of patience; however, these two had somehow gotten on his nerve within the first five minutes of meeting him. They seemed like an ordinary, cheeky pair of brats.

"It's not our fault. You were the one who was late."

"Yeah. Killua was right about you being an old man too." Kakashi smoothed his hair and sighed deeply.

"I'll have you know I'm twenty-six. And you," He pointed towards Killua, "are one to talk. Your hair is even whiter than mine!"

Killua smirked and peered at the man from the corner of his eyes. "Yeah, but it's obvious what my age is. You, on the other hand, could easily be over forty. How we supposed to tell when you keep that mask on all the time?"

"Killua, I don't think we should fight him. He seems weak. Maybe the hokage will let us be tested by someone else."

"I'll have you know I'm one of the top shinobi in the village."

"Then hurry up and explain the rules." Killua demanded with a huff.

"I was getting there before you two decided to go cloud watching." Kakashi took out a pair of bells form his waist and held it in front of them. He got ready to speak when he heard Gon whispering in Killua's ear.

"I don't think he's twenty. He must be at least fifty." Kakashi gave up trying to correct them at this point. He just wanted to get the bell test over with. With the way they got along, he was sure they would pass the teamwork test just fine. After this was all over, heaven forbid he ran into them again.

_Maybe I should make more of an effort to be on time…_Kakashi thought absently. He shrugged his shoulders. _Nah._ It wasn't worth it.

* * *

**A/N: Kakashi wasn't so hard to characterize, but I had difficulties characterizing Gon and Killua. Hopefully they aren't too OOC.**


	8. A Devious Plan

**Plans**

"So all we have to do is get the bell from you?" Gon said. "That's easy!"

"Well, I have yet to have someone succeed, so we'll see how easy it is." Kakashi held up four fingers. "It's eight o' clock right now. You have until the bell," he motioned towards a clock sitting on a wooden post, "rings at noon. That means you have four hours. Ready?" The pair nodded. Kakashi hit the timer on the clock. "Start!" He vanished in a swirl of twisting leaves.

Gon took a step forward to flush him out of hiding when Killua grabbed his shoulder. "Wait, Gon. I'm sure there is some ulterior motive for asking to grab something so simple."

"Maybe. What do you think it could be? I know the hokage said something about basic techniques."

"Right. So, he's going to judge the abilities we use, but there is more to it than that. Think carefully and you might see it." Gon sat down on the grass with Killua. He was obviously right about thinking their strategy through, but what good would it be to display their nen abilities? First, they had to see what shinobi could accomplish without nen.

"There was a single bell." It was the only thing that stood out in Gon's mind. The thought hit him hard and he gasped in realization. "Of course! It's like the Hunter Exams. We are both trying to get the same thing, so he is pitting us against each other."

"Yes. There is one flaw with his psychological tricks however. You see, he needs to test both of us. The hokage wanted to determine if we were both fit for duty. There is one bell, so he is testing how well we can work together to obtain a singular objective. In reality, it doesn't matter who grabs the bell as long as we work together.

"So what you are saying…"

"Is that we have to show off how well we work together." Killua smirked and leaned close to Gon's ear. "Here's the plan."

Kakashi peered at the pair from the trees as they both got a devious expression on their faces. These boys were troublesome. It seemed they were always finding ways to bother people in harmless ways. Making secret plans counted on the top of his list as bothersome when it came to these types of personalities. Killua shot a glance at his location, and Kakashi tensed in anticipation. _Surely…?_ He was probably just being paranoid, but you never could tell. He prepared to shift locations. Whatever they had in store, it wasn't nice.


	9. Plans in Motion

**The Plan**

Whoosh! The sound of the something whizzing past his ear made Kakashi pause in contemplation. He hadn't heard either of the boy's approach his hiding spot, and he couldn't see either of them in the vicinity. _Where did they go? Are they using a genjutsu to cloak themselves? _He put his hands together in a seal and focused on the flow of his chakra. _Kai! _Kakashi peeked open his eye. Nothing had changed. It was time for plan two—sharingan. He lifted the visor over his left eye.

He could see the smallest of scuffles on the dirt. These boys were fast.

_Crack!_

Kakashi whipped his head towards the branch he was sitting on. There was a hook attached to it and pulling down sharply. A fishing pole? They were trying to get the bell with a fishing pole? There was still no sign of either boy. Where in the world could they be hiding? He leaped from his hiding spot into the open air over the field just in time for the branch to come crashing down.

A familiar sound of metal came rushing at him from the side, and he twisted to avoid the yoyo that barely managed to scrape his side. _A yoyo? What kind of weapons do these two use?_ It seemed hunters preferred to use unorthodox weapons. _The reports said that one prefers using speed and cunning while the other has brute strength equivalent to that of Tsunade._

"Hey mister!" Kakashi maneuvered his body so that he could search for the voice of Gon.

_Is that—oh no! _Kakashi was slammed into the ground as an entire tree hit him with the strength of a baseball bat. There was a poof and Kakashi's form was replaced with a log. Killua appeared next to Gon in a burst of speed. He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked the dirt.

"Che. I thought for sure that would get him. Gon, lets continue with the rest of the plan."

"Right." Gon slung his fishing pole over his back.

"Stand back. I got this." Killua withdrew a pair of yoyos and launched them at the base of the tree Kakashi had retreated to. Up in the tree, Kakashi had pulled his headband back down over his eye to conserve his chakra.

_What's he hoping to do with a pair of yo-. _Kakashi dashed from his spot at the sound of the trunk breaking. _How heavy are those things? They are obviously made of metal. Metal most likely means electricity. _Meanwhile, Gon had approached the riverbed.

"Okay. Let's do this!" He slammed his fist down into the ground. Fissures formed and more trees fell as local wildlife scurried to get away from the chaos. Water gushed in to fill the gaps left in the artificial quake downstream. "Killua, it's your turn now!"

"Got it." He retreated and Kakashi found himself face-to-face with Gon's fist. He reacted by bringing up his arms. The punch connected and Kakashi found himself flying towards the fissure in the ground. He quickly righted himself. He would admit they had surprised him. These kids were no older than genin, yet they were fighting like veteran jounin. There was a jingle and Kakashi gasped as Killua reached for the bells.

He twisted and landed on the watery battlefield. The pair remained outside of the water. This meant that they most likely couldn't stand on water.

"Wow! Killua, how is he doing that?"

"It's not an assassin technique. No one should be able to stand on water yet he's doing just that…" An instant bloodlust filled the air, radiating from Killua more than Gon, as they both grinned from ear to ear. "This is getting fun; however, you should just surrender."

"Surrender?" Kakashi took out his Make-out Paradise. They were surprising, but he could figure out their fighting patterns now. "As I see it now, it's easier for me to remain on the water and avoid you while I read my book."

"Are you so sure about that?" Killua replied raising hands crackling with electricity. Kakashi narrowed his eye. Kakashi shifted his stance in preparation, but froze when he cut his hands on wires. There were invisible wires all over the place! "So you've noticed? My yoyo's use metal wires are hard to see, but they are noticeable. I had Gon distract you with flying trees and fissures to divert your attention away from the wires as I placed them around the clearing. Oh, and you should be really careful. They are super sharp if you don't handle them correctly."

_This boy,_ Kakashi thought, _is a tactical genius on par with the Naras and Itachi Uchiha. I still have more tricks up my sleeve, but I'm sure they do as well._ _They did well, so I should just end it here. _"Fine. Just so you know, I could escape this; however, I want to get back to reading my favorite book if you don't mind."

Gon and Killua high-fived. "We did it!" They jumped up and down excitedly, cheering for their success.

"So," Killua started.

"How did we do? They finished in unison. Kakashi grinned and gave them a peace sign.

"Good news is that you two are eligible for jounin rank based on strategy; however, I have a bit of bad news." The boys quieted down. "I'm afraid I still have to send you to the academy. You did not display basic jutsu such as clones, transformation, or substitution."

Killua groaned. All their work had gone to waste. Gon, on the other hand, was not too upset.

"Killua, do you think we'll get to learn how to transform? I've always wanted to do the clone thing like you do."

"Of course you would be the one to be excited at going to school with a bunch of children.

"But Killua, we are kids."

"Idiot! I wasn't meaning it literally." Kakashi watched the two banter until they finally erupted into laughter as the fight became ridiculous in its absurdity.

_These two are virtually brothers. _In his mind, Kakashi had already nicknamed them Black and White. The moment they stepped into the spotlight, they would be known as a pair of prodigies. Watching them, Kakashi wished he had had the same kind of friendship with Obito.

However, it was too late for that.


	10. The Chakra Theorem

**Theorems**

"I can't believe they sent us to this stupid school anyway." Killua grumbled, kicking nearby rocks into windows with his shoes. "At least they let us opt out of taijutsu."

"I think it'll be fun. We'll get to learn all about this world's history and about whatever they are calling this jutsu." Killua stopped as Gon continued to move ahead. "Killua?"

"About that, Gon," Killua bit his lip, "I don't think we'll be able to use their abilities the way they do short of becoming a jinchuuriki." Over the weekend, he had taken time to memorize the basics and read up on their history. Naturally, his interest was piqued when he saw the word "Jinchuuriki" or in more literal terms, "Power of Human Sacrifice."

"Why not?"

"You probably won't understand, so I'll put it in simple terms. Nen doesn't mix well with chakra. Humans can only have one inner source of power. If we try to stick the two together, they clash and cancel the weaker energy out. In other words, it won't work."

"Now that I think about it, the air does feel weird. People don't seem to have auras either, and they can't seem to sense ours."

Killua held up two fingers. "This brings me to my second point. Nen and chakra are two sides of the same coin; however, nen is built more for defense. I ran several tests, and I think we can mix our nen with the energy surrounding us to create psuedo jutsu. It won't be the same as the original though."

"Yeah." Gon ran over all the options in his head. "How easy was it to gather the chakra around us?"

Killua smirked and gave a cocky shrug. "I don't see why they don't do it more often. I tested it in various scenarios. There was a hundred percent ratio of success."

"Show me later." Gon grinned as he looked at his watch. "But right now, we are going to be late for class if we don't hurry!"

"I'll race you to classroom."

"Osu!" Gon pumped his fist in excitement. "You're on!"

**I will explain in more detail later about this, but I prefer to have a bit more development before then.**


	11. New Students

**New Students**

"Did you hear?" Sakura whispered to Ino. The oddly pink-haired girl didn't normally speak with her former best-friend. Today, however, was to be different. The rumors of new students had been flying around for the past day ever since the principal had been overheard talking to Iruka.

"About the new students? Who hasn't by now?" Ino clasped her hands together and sighed deeply. "I wonder if they'll be the dreamy type." She shot a brief glance full of hatred toward Naruto. "Let's just hope they aren't total dorks like Naruto."

"Ugh, don't even get me started on him." Sakura moaned. One Naruto was bad enough running around and getting them in trouble. If there were two of them? Sakura shuddered at the thought. "That's a nightmare waiting to happen."

"Everyone quiet down!" Iruka shouted from the front of the classroom. He held a clipboard in his right hand. Naruto groaned inwardly. This meant there was going to be a test today. He would be alright as long as it wasn't the clone jutsu. He was terrible at that! Iruka scratched the long scar across the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Let's get started. Today we have two new students. They are about a year older than you guys and have been placed here under special permission from the Third Hokage. They are foreigners to this country as refugees, so I ask that everyone do your best to help them through the curriculum." He opened the door and ushered the two newcomers inside.

Instantly there were squeals from the fangirls erupting around the room. "They're so cute!"

"I just want to cuddle them!"

"The white-haired one is almost as good-looking as Sasuke-kun!"

"I wonder if he is similar to Sasuke-kun's personality?" There was another round of squeals at the mention of Sasuke's name.

Killua deadpanned at all the crazy females in the room, "I'm not interested in any of you." He really wasn't. They were going to be joining the military in a month, yet they were still acting like this? It was ridiculous and pathetic at the same time. Killua didn't know whether he wanted to laugh or cry.

"Come on Killua. I don't think they meant any harm by it. Besides, there might be a pretty girl you might actually like." Gon smiled brightly and sent several girls swooning.

"Do you not see the rabid girls slobbering over there? They will maul you Gon!"

"Eh? Killua that's rude! Everyone knows you should treat a lady with respect."

"Gon, sometimes I swear…" Killua trailed off and decided to let it rest. At this rate, Gon would be more popular than him. Heck, Gon was always more popular with the females for some reason. _Maybe I should follow Gon's advice for once. He puts me to shame. Well, he also attracts the freaks the majority of the time._

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" The room went silent as they stared at their huffing teacher. He cleared his throat and continued in a normal voice, "Now. Allow me to introduce our new students—Gon Freecs and Killua Zoldyck. They are members of the newly formed Nen Clan."

"Nice to meet you!" Gon waved to everyone in the class.

"Same." Killua responded distastefully and shoved his hands in his pockets. Iruka looked around the room and pointed to the two empty seats beside Naruto.

"You two can sit over there."

"Um, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto muttered nervously.

"Yes Naruto?"

"I'd rather they didn't…."

"And why is that?" Naruto glanced nervously at the rabid hoard of fan girls boring holes in his back.

"Uhhh…." If he said something, all the girls would pounce on him. Either way he was in a bad position.

Killua chuckled and pointed at the seat beside him. "Too late. It's seems like Gon already wants to be friends."

"Hi. I'm Gon. So you're Naruto?" He held his hand. Naruto accepted it cautiously.

_Why isn't he hitting me or calling me a monster? This kid is strange. Even my classmates don't like me. _"Yeah. I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Another hand was shoved in front of him.

"I'm Killua. You'll have to excuse Gon. He gets over excited sometimes."

Naruto smiled and let out a laugh, "Sure. My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be hokage! Believe it!" Naruto grinned deviously and lowered his voice to a whisper. "So, do you guys like pranks?"

* * *

**A/N: Thank all of you guys for your wonderful reviews. :) **

**I figured I would address this question since it's been asked: Where is Alluka? Well, I originally had Alluka mentioned, but I must have deleted it when I was editing. Alluka is back in the HxH universe under a protection system Killua set up. He is being well taken care of. **

**As for the last chapter, it may seem like filler, but it will play an important role later on. Next chapter, I'm going to focus on some different characters.**


	12. Kurapika's Dillema

**Kurapika's Dilemma**

"You want me to babysit your son?" The Fourth Kazekage nodded. His face portrayed sagely wisdom (though he had none). Kurapika had to have the luck of landing directly in the middle of a desert. If he hadn't found the Village Hidden in the Sand, it was almost certain he would've died of dehydration. It had been no problem until the Kazekage had discovered where he came from.

"That is exactly what I said. You are a Hunter, correct? There was a group that came by about a year or two ago. They told me what your profession does which leads me to believe Hunters are on par with our jounin." Kurapika grimaced at the thought of babysitting but chose not to move. It was either this or a jail cell deep beneath Suna.

"While it is true that I am a Hunter," Kurapika replied calmly, "I am not the kind you are looking for. You could say I'm a bounty hunter or someone who searches for a specific item related to those on my list. Beyond that, I work for shady organizations. I am not suited to caring for a kid I hardly know."

The Kazekage sighed and stood up. His chair squealed as it scraped against the tile floor. He didn't seem to pay much attention to Kurapika, lost in thought, as he gazed into the far distance out the oval window. "Normally," he said, "I would not put you on this duty. However, I am afraid we are massing for war against Konoha. Gaara would not be too pleased at your striking resemblance to his late uncle. In fact, he might try to kill you on the spot. It is your abilities that make me even begin to consider this proposition."

"You want me to design a chain specifically for sealing off Gaara in the case he goes berserk?"

"Exactly. In return, Suna will help you look for the items you desire if it is within our ability."

Kurapika remained in front of the desk in silent thought. "You can give me anything from here and I could make a fortune off of it back home. Enlist me as a shinobi and allow me to have detailed documents, insignias, or scrolls. I'm sure I could use them in some way to locate my items."

"I cannot give you sensitive documents but copies of common knowledge should be fine, correct?"

"Yes."

"I see. Very well. From today on, you are now an ANBU chunin of Suna. I will be giving you risky missions should the need arise, but for now you will be guarding Gaara. I want you to be careful upon first encounter. He tends to get bloodlust fairly easily." Kurapika gave a bow of respect towards his new commanding officer.

"Yes sir."

* * *

**A/N: I was looking at Kurapika and I noticed how similar to Yashamaru he appeared. For laughs, I threw him in as the "bodyguard." This one was fairly short. Kurapika has always been a difficult character for me to relate to. For me, he was just kinda there and I didn't miss him when he disappeared either. But, the HxH quartet isn't complete without him!**


	13. Gaara

**Gaara**

Kurapika had plotted out dozens of scenarios based on the information he received from the Kazekage. Kurapika did not deem himself a master tactician—that was left up Killua. Killua was the main strategist in the group, but Kurapika was by no means stupid. He put thought into his actions; he did not act rashly except for few occasions. Those few occasions often centered on his clan which in turn reminded him why he had to think out his actions. One did not simply face the Phantom Troupe and come back unscathed.

He had been trailing Gaara through the streets of Suna. He needed to scout out the kid's personality and determine if it was safe to approach him casually. The statistics on the kid were not good. In fact, they had been downright scary. The cold stare he gave the villager's along with his death count gave Kurapika a good profile of what the kid was like. His conclusion was that Gaara was cold-blooded murder. If he had no prior information on the boy, he would have abandoned him immediately. The issue came with his background information. Apparently, Gaara used to be kind and timid.

Black-rimmed eyes shot towards his location and Kurapika froze. Gaara shouldn't have noticed him yet. He still had to determine the best way to approach him about the situation without getting maimed or brutally murdered. The red head returned to his emotionless walk through the village. There was something strange going on here. Kurapika's eyes were immediately drawn to a fruit vendor.

He had already been here.

The boy was knowingly leading him in circles! The world was dyed in red as he tensed in preparation. Gaara could attack hi—"Attack you any moment." A cocky male voiced Kurapika's thoughts just as a wooden puppet pinned both arms to his side. "That's what you were thinking. Man it took you long enough to figure out. Good thing Temari and I stayed away from Gaara when we noticed you." Kurapika inched his head towards his attacker to get a better picture of who they were.

"The Kazekage's children!" This was the worst situation possible. He was prepared to deal with Gaara, but he did not have a contingency plan for Temari and Kankuro.

"We've got a bright one here." Temari chuckled and knelt down beside Kurapika. She swung a kunai back in forth on her index finger. "How do you think we should handle him?"

"I'll handle him. His appearance disturbs me." Gaara gave a vile smirk. "Mother wants to taste his blood." Temari and Kankura backed off immediately. The puppet crushing his lungs vanished. Kurapika fell to the ground grasping his neck with rapid intakes of breath.

_This is bad!_ Kurapika struggled to his feet and whipped out his chains toward Gaara. Sand rushed up to deflect the projectiles. The pointed ends passed through the barrier with ease and wrapped around Gaara. Within seconds the sand fell away leaving a startled Gaara bound to the spot.

"Who the hell are you?"

Kurapika cleared his throat and mustered the most courage he could have in this situation. One wrong move and he would be crushed under tons of sand. "My name is Kurapika. I apologize for acting rudely, but your father asked me to watch you."

"I do not need a babysitter."

"I told him that as well, but your father is not one to listen to others." Kurapika raised his chain ridden hand. "This chain binds your sand so you can no longer use it. The Kazekage wanted me to prevent you from killing anymore allies until the war operation can begin." Temari and Kankura were shooting nervous glances and fidgeting in place. Gaara would not take the news well. Gaara said nothing. He continued with the emotionlessness that seemed to be his entire persona. Kurapika gave a bow and released the visible chains and turned to leave.

The voice was barely audible, but it was clear and precise. "The moment you let your guard down I will kill you. I'll be sure to make you scream every minute of it."

Kurapika decided he liked Killua's ruthlessness better. At least he knew how to control it.


	14. Medical Ninjutsu

**Medical Ninjutsu**

"Leorio! We need your help ASAP!" Leorio was frantically dashing around the clinic gathering the materials needed for surgery. They had just had a Kumo shinobi from the nearby collapse on the front step of their local clinic. It was not a major hospital such as the ones found in Kumogakure, but it was renowned for being a civilian clinic with one special quirk: retired medical shinobi. He had been lucky to discover it when he was on the verge of starvation. He showed them a few medicines and techniques unknown to them and was instantly rewarded with a well-paying job.

It also brought joy to him at the thought that he could finally put medical theory to practice. He didn't trust himself with a major operation such as surgery, but he had confidence in his ability to diagnose and treat diseases. He had been researching the various medicines and how they were created on the side to make his dream just a slight bit easier. It was already beginning to show its perks.

"Sir we can't have you interfering!" One of the nurses shouted from the lobby.

"Out of my way!" There was the thumping of boots on the wooden floors as the man dashed down the hall way. The nurses clambered after him and there was more thumping from people—nurses—hitting the ground. Leorio carefully slid his supplies back on the counter and readied himself for a brutal fight. This particular man was showing no signs of slowing.

He rounded the corner and Leorio felt like giving up then and there. The man was huge! At least twice his size in the torso with bulging muscles, his bulky form left Leorio in awe. His aura was impressive and intimidating at the same time. "Are you Leorio Palidinight?"

"Yeah, but what makes you think I'll listen after you come barging in here? I have a patient that needs to be taken care of."

"I've already got that taken care of. He's being shipped to treatment at the shinobi hospital in Kumo." Leorio bit back the harsh words he was going to say. This man held power. "I want to employ you under our military as a shinobi."

"Eh?Who the hell are you? And anyway, I don't want to be a shinobi!" The man smirked and crossed his arms.

"What if I were to tell you that we could help you learn medical ninjutsu?"

"Seriously? No one here will teach me! You're saying you would just let me learn it?" The man nodded and held up a finger.

"I've received word that Suna and Konoha have already contracted Hunters as shinobi. The first wave of Hunters went missing a while back, but there was no doubt they were a powerful. Acquiring Hunters is a secret war of power. Now that Konoha finally got their hands on one after being left in the dark, they will be in the position to attack those that don't have one."

"So you want me to be a deterrent."

"Yes. I came here personally because no one else knows this carefully guarded secret. That means," he lowered his voice, "you can't tell anybody. We'll be sure to silence you if you do."

"Fine I get it! I accept your stupid offer. You never answered my question. Who are you?"

"Me? I'm the Raikage. Welcome to the ranks of Kumogakure!" Leorio groaned. He had gotten himself into serious trouble and he had only been here a short time.


	15. Prodigy

**Prodigy**

"What do you mean you want to test us?" Killua raged at the impudent teacher. Iruka was beginning to get on his nerves with his thinking they were like the rest. Heck, the Uchiha brat didn't even come close to his level! It was pitting greenhorns against seasoned veterans in the field of combat. He was still against the whole school issue. Gon had shown he could only make a single clone with the siphoned energy. Killua struggled with two. It was easy to pass it off as a result of their "bloodline", but it made for some mocking and doubts on the part of the two teachers.

"So, I have decided to pair Gon with Naruto," Oh right, the teacher had been speaking, "and Sasuke versus Killua."

"What?! I'm not going to face that guy!" Killua pouted and jabbed his thumb in the direction of the brooding boy.

Sasuke growled, "Are you mocking me? I could beat you to the ground in an instant." Killua smirked and shrugged.

"I know I could."

"Boys quit it now! I'm sorry about this, but I do not agree with the Hokage's assessment to let you opt out of taijutsu. You're just kids!"

"Ch." Killua glared at Sasuke.

"Hn." Sasuke glared right back. They didn't need any prompting to get on the field. Killua relaxed his stance, hands in his pockets, and allowed his anger to diminish. There was something about Sasuke that always upset him. He carried himself with an air of superiority, which would be fine, except he repeatedly scorned everyone around him. For his lack of experience, Sasuke was undoubtedly strong; however, his personality left much to be desired. His personality was eerily similar to that of Miluki's (minus the laziness and yelling.)

Iruka sighed, one hand on his forehead, in defeat. He seemed to be doing that frequently. He waved his hand, "go ahead. Be sure to give the proper greeting." The seal of Confrontation. They would hold up two fingers on their right hands signaling the challenge. "Bow." The two gave a polite bow. "Begin!"

Sasuke launched himself with trained grace. There was a deep lunge with his right hand. _Slow, _Killua thought. _He's way too slow!_ In a split second, Killua had shifted his body within centimeters of the boy's fist. It ruffled his clothes but left Killua otherwise unscathed. Killua's face remained calm and composed as Sasuke's face contorted into a snarl. He lunged again, aiming for a sharp kick, which impacted the air.

"Go Killua!" Killua turned to Gon with a somewhat blank expression. The boy wasn't even focused on the fight! But he was distracted now! Sasuke took the chance to aim for the face. His fist came around towards the oblivious boy. _I got you now!_

"How naïve." Killua ducked and twisted around with a sharp kick to the abdomen. Sasuke went tumbling to the ground. HE grunted and held his stomach in pain as he struggled to sit up. Killua raised his hand and shouted, "Sensei! I beat Sasuke, so can I go now?"

"Eh?" _There's no way! He just took out the top student with a single blow!_ "Is Gon on the same level?"

"Hmm. We use different fighting styles, but we trained together. Yes? Actually, Gon relies purely on brute strength so he may be even better than me." Killua shrugged and laced his hands together behind his head. His right foot was kicking the dirt in impatience. He wanted to get out of the stupid class already.

"Alright. You two can leave."

"Thanks Sensei!" Killua yanked Gon out of the line of students. "Let's get out of here Gon! We can go practice making jutsus work!"

"Eh? But I wanted to fight Naruto!"

"You'll just beat him anyway! You don't want Naruto getting hurt do you?"

"No…" The entire class watched the new students go. No one could say a thing. They had just watched the top student get beaten in a few seconds. There was no words to describe what they had just seen.

"I guess I'll just pair Sasuke up with Naruto again."

"Why do I have to fight that bastard!" Naruto groaned. "Gon seemed so much more fun."

"You can do that some other time. Now get in the ring Naruto!"

"Dang it…"

Sasuke clenched his teeth and bore daggers into the retreating figure of Killua. _Why? Why is there always so much difference?!_ For a moment, Killua's figure was replaced with that of his older brother's.

_"You are weak."_


	16. Training

**Training**

Gon collapsed onto the grass gasping for air. "Killua, this isn't working out well. I can only make one clone." Killua nodded tiredly from beside Gon.

"It's not like we have a choice though. If we tell the hokage 'no,' he'll have us thrown in jail." There were no words exchanged as the pair sat up and prepared their stances again. "This isn't working."

"At least we managed to make the substitution jutsu work. Your right though. We need to find a different way to use the nature chakra. Are you sure there is no way to use our own?"

"I told you, we have nen instead of chakra." Killua froze. That was what they were forgetting! They were forgetting the basics! "Gon, do you remember how we first learned to control our nen?"

Gon's eyes widened in realization. He clenched his fists in excitement. "Meditation! I see. So we need to meditate to learn how the energy feels because it's different from nen?"

"I'm sure we aren't the only people to figure out how to use the chakra in nature. I think this would be a good question to ask the hokage. I get the feeling that if there wasn't risks associated with it then everybody would be running around using it. It's unusually pure compared to the chakra in the people around here."

"It's closer to nen than chakra." Gon paused and began sniffing the air. "Sh! There's someone here!" The bushed shifted revealing a scuffed and dirtied Naruto. Naruto's hands were covered in cuts and his pants were ripped.

"Naruto!" Gon rushed to his new friend's side. "What happened?"

"Huh?" Naruto snapped out of his dazed stupor. "Gon!" He spotted Killua who gave a wave, "and Killua? What are you doing here?"

"Training of course! We aren't doing so well with chakra though…" Naruto gaped.

"What! There's no way! Killua beat Sasuke in five seconds! Are you saying you guys can't use jutsu?"

"It's sorta complicated." Gon chuckled nervously and turned to Killua. He shook his head. "Our clan's bloodline makes it harder to use jutsu…"

"Aw man! I was hoping to see if you guys could teach me some awesome jutsu!" Naruto clenched his fists and pouted.

"Gon should teach you how to fight." Gon grinned at Killua's suggestion.

"Yeah! We can show you how our sensei taught us!" Naruto peeked around Gon to see Killua with a mischievous glint to his eyes. He gulped as the slight smile became an evil grin. "It's a great idea!" Gon frowned, "but what were you doing out here all alone?"

"Ah…that. I was going to practice some awesome pranks!" Naruto gave a thumbs up.

"Liar."

"Eh?" Naruto slowly lowered his hand. No one who was practicing pranks would have hands that were so scratched up. "How…?"

"You look like you've been in a fight. Something happened so you ran out to this secluded training ground to work out your feelings. Killua did something similar once."

"I can't tell you why."

"But Na—"

"I can't! I don't even know why myself!" Gon put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"You aren't alone you know." Killua nodded beside Gon.

"Gon saved me once. If you let him be your friend, I'm sure things will get better."Naruo sniffled, teary eyed. _I'm not crying, damn it!_ He wiped his face.

"Will you show me how to get stronger?" Gon and Killua shared the strange look he was always seeing them do."

"You bet!"

* * *

**A/N: I vaguely remember one episode where Naruto cried about having friends. I think it was vs Gaara? I hope I didn't make him OOC with that...**


	17. How to Train A Fox

**How to Train a Fox**

A soft wind rustled the grassy training field as Gon and Killua met to confer as to how to train Naruto. There had been many suggestions by Killua, but Gon had shot them all down. "Killua," he said, "he doesn't have the same training we have had."

"That is exactly why we should train him the same way." Gon sighed. Usually he was the stubborn one, but Killua was being the irrational one here. Killua was the brains and Gon was the brawn to any outside observer. In truth, while Killua was more perceptive on occasions, Gon outshone him in other areas. Gon was more reactive and so had a quicker reaction in tense situations. Killua would think out the issue before reacting to the same issue.

"Killua, I don't think he can lift a ton yet. We should start with building up his strength."

"Hm. His taijutsu is atrocious," Killua paused and looked upwards in thought, index and thumb grasping his chin, "But so is everything else."

"He's really good at sneaking around though. He managed to trick multiple chunin and jounin."

"He's like a fox. He's mischievous and unpredictable—good for a sneaky style. We need to play on that. The way he thinks now though, I don't think he could come up with a suitable style. There would have to be a lot of feints and thinking ahead mixed with his unpredictability…"

"It's a hard choice. We should just start with some basic field questions. You would be better at inventing them though."

"Okay. I'll leave the physical training to you. You both are good at coming up with crazy schemes, so you would be good sparring partners."

"Hm. You think so? I think some easy traps would also be a good idea. Biscuit made us go through a similar experience with the boulders and monsters."

Killua nodded and crossed his arms. He was already creating a mental list of all the things Biscuit, Wing, and his family did to increase his abilities. His family's training techniques didn't suit Naruto considering the circumstances (Heck, it hardly suited anyone.) "So to list the things we did, they are meditation, hauling boulders, sparring with an equal, obstacle courses, and situations that test are ability to think on our feet. Of course, this is all excluding our nen since Naruto already has chakra. Does this sound right?"

"Yeah." Gon leapt to his feet and pumped his fists. "Let's get started on the obstacle course first!"

"Leave the ninja tools to me." Killua twirled a shuriken on his index finger with a devious smirk. "You could say thrown weapons are one of my specialties…" He trailed with a bloodthirsty grin. This was an instance he would enjoy hearing screams. It was going to be priceless.

* * *

**A/N: This was originally going to be updated yesterday, but I got forced into a five hour test. Needless to say, I could barely do my homework. There was no way I could've written anything. The chapters right now are super short, but I think they will start branching into 1000+words here soon.**


	18. Family and Friends

**Family and Friends**

While Killua reserved and prepared a spot in the training field for use, Gon had hunted down Naruto to bring him to the field. It had been a good idea since Gon had found him getting ready to dump bucket loads of red food coloring into the tubs. Apparently, it was Naruto's own potent version using a local herb. It was called the "Weeping Bloodrose." It had been easy to produce buckets full from a nearby field that had them for miles. Everything was all for the best. Gon figured the blood colored water might stir up post-traumatic stress disorder in more than one shinobi while simulatiously causing civilians to panic.

"I spent all week preparing those!" Naruto complained as Gon dragged him by his collar.

"It's the weekend now, so we have a training regime prepared. Killua is setting up the obstacle course right now."

"But I wanted to see the look on all of their faces…" he pouted.

"If you know about the flowers, does that mean you know a lot about their medical uses?" Naruto just gave Gon a blank face. "That's too bad. I'm sure Killua will quiz you over common plants. They may be different than where we came from, but I know you have some of the same plants too. I can smell them."

"Smell them…are you some kind of dog?" Naruto mused. Gon ignored Naruto's slight insult. To be more accurate, he was oblivious. He just continued forward with a smile.

"I'm not a dog, but I can smell a mile or so away."

"A-a mile!" Naruto stuttered in amazement. This guy had to be related to the Inuzuka clan! He pointed a finger in disbelief. "You're inhuman with that sense of smell! Do you use chakra or something to get it that strong?"

"Chakra? No, I just use it naturally. I was raised by my aunt. There wasn't really anyone else my age on the island where we lived so I was always exploring the forest." Gon grinned and placed his hands on the back of his head. "I learned all sorts of things from the forest!"

Naruto saw Gon's cheery face and returned it with his own genuine smile. He waited till Gon turned around to let his face drop. He stared listlessly at the ground. Gon was raised by his aunt, and he said there wasn't anyone else to play with. Did Gon know who his parents were, or was he an orphan like him? Did his aunt take him in several years after whatever happened to his parents? He felt a strange friendship forming with Gon, but it couldn't form all the way. It wasn't the same pull he had towards Sasuke. It couldn't be that way.

Gon wasn't raised by his parents, but he had an aunt who cared for him. He didn't have any friends his age, but he obviously had Killua. His aunt had probably told him stories of his parents. Gon most likely knew the name of his parents. Naruto had no one.

The thought of what he wanted but never allowed crushed his spirits again. "Naruto? You have a strange look on your face."

"Oh, uh, it's nothing!"

"You don't have to hide it you know." He put a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'm sure that your parents really cared for you even if they can't be here. You aren't alone." Naruto was feeling shock. Gon had read straight through him in an instant. "You have me, Killua, the Hokage, and even Iruka-sensei." Iruka-sensei cared for him? With the way he was always yelling, it never seemed that way. "He just doesn't want to admit." Gon whispered in his ear. Naruto chuckled and Gon backed up. "I'm sure if you train and work hard, you'll make lots of friends. You'll make friends who can be family."

"Gon, do you really think I can?"

"Ah! I'm absolutely sure! Oh! We're here! Killuuuaaa!" Gon waved and ran off leaving Naruto by himself.

"Aha! Gon! Hurry up! The course I built is amazing!" Gon paused and turned to Naruto.

"What are you waiting for? You're our friend too!"

_Friends who are family. _Naruto thought wistfully. _It has a nice ring to it._ He perked up his spirits and made a dash for the other side of the field where Gon and Killua were waving. It was a nice feeling to have people he could count on. It was nice to have friends.

_Thunk,thunk,thunk!_

Naruto slowly creaked his head around to see multiple shuriken embedded in the tree beside his head. He had been seconds from being skewered! "Sorry! I forgot to tell you that you have to make it over here without hitting any of the traps! It's the first part of your training!" Killua called a bit too cheerfully from the other side of the field. _How did Gon make it look so easy?! _There was wire decorating anything he could possibly touch!

"Good luck Naruto!" Gon waved and yelled from his spot on the sidelines. Naruto gulped and took a step forward. One wrong move and he would be dead.


	19. Obstacles

**Obstacles**

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto went flying off the course as an explosion blasted him away. Killua was collapsed on the floor in laughter as Naruto got blown up by another "paint bomb." Killua had special ordered them from the weapon shop run by a specialist. Naruto's favorite orange jacket and pant combo was permanently died a neon pink.

"This is priceless!" Killua giggled madly as Naruto went running from the flurry of kunai.

"You can do it Naruto!" Gon cheered as the boy narrowly avoided falling into a pit trap. Naruto angrily shook his fist, unable to say anything as he tripped another wire sending rocks flying at him.

"This is impossible! You guys are insane!" Naruto cursed having ever chosen them as teachers. A rough estimate of the sun (it had just barely been over the horizon when he arrived) had him running the obstacle course for over two hours now. Killua and Gon constantly reset the traps when they began to run out. They seemed to have a limitless quantity of materials to use at their disposal. At one point, they had managed to secure rabid forest animals to chase him. He suspected Killua had bribed Gon into doing some strange forest mojo-thingy. The boy did have the senses of a dog, so it wasn't that inconceivable.

Naruto dodged another flurry of traps sent his way. _These aren't going to work anymore!_ He withdrew a kunai and did his best to dodge the oncoming shuriken, a few striking him in the shoulder, to be replaced by a log. He had learned within the first hour to make apt use of the substitution jutsu.

"Good use of a substitution!" Gon clapped from the other side of the field. Killua was gone—most likely replacing the traps. "You're getting the hang of it!"

Were they kidding? There was no way he was getting used to this! He blocked another kunai that shot out of the woods. _This simulates a battle well. It's way tougher than anything at the academy!_ Naruto spotted a dent in the ground made from the disguised mines. It was just barely noticeable, but there was a slight difference in color from the surrounding grass. He hadn't noticed it two hours earlier. He jumped to the side. He veered back to where Killua and Gon were waiting.

_There should be a trip wire and five mines here!_ He searched the ground and spotted the wires and suspicious grass patches. _Gotcha! Believe it!_ He grinned and nimbly ran through the traps. _I barely pulled that off though. I'm starting to get tired._

He landed right in front of Gon and straightened his back to stand. "It looks like I made it through, huh?" He rubbed his nose with a cheeky grin. "That wasn't so ha-"A fist sent him flying back to start. He skidded to a stop and opened his eyes to stare straight at the sky. _WHAT?!_

"What the hell did you do that for?" He pointed towards Gon.

"I was supposed to spar with you when you got through the obstacles."

"You should at least give me time to prepare!"

Killua shoved his hands in his pocket as he looked at Naruto blankly. "I told him to do that. Eventually, we want you to be able to spar on the obstacle course. Gon and I can already do that."

"Eh? Why?"

"Think about it. Just because you get through an enemy's base doesn't mean you can stand around and gloat. You can get attacked at any moment." He flashed across the field in the blink of an eye. Naruto leapt backwards. He didn't want to get another punch to the face. Killua poked Naruto's jacket. "If this was a real mission, you would be dead over a hundred times now. That's not counting when Gon punched you."

"I'm not a jounin. You can't expect me to this kinda stuff!" Gon had made his way across the field and was now standing next to Killua.

"You can," Gon stated, "if you want to. It takes practice, but I saw you. You were really fast, and you learned how to spot traps. You are getting better," Gon grinned, "so don't give up!"

"I got better?"

"Ah," Killua said, "Think back to the beginning. You had no idea where the traps were or what to expect. You got skewered several times too. But now, you can substitute if you need to. There are still a ton of things to work on, but it takes a while."

Naruto's resolve hardened at those words. They were right. He wouldn't get better overnight, but he would get better. He would find some cool jutsu to learn from gramps and then he would show Sasuke who's best! "Ah. Thank you. I won't let you down, Gon-sensei, Killua-sensei!"

"Right. I'm going to show you how to fight." Gon lashed out with a fist. It skimmed Naruto's face by a centimeter. "Come on! You'll only get better by practicing against someone better!" The fight preceded and Killua watched from the sidelines making observations.

_Gon's style relies more on brute strength than precise strikes. Naruto seems to favor the same thing, but the Academy style doesn't compliment his personality. To add to this, everybody in the academy is taught the same style; therefore, they do not get a wide range of styles to experiment with. By fighting Gon, Naruto should be able to gain experience as well as create his own style. Still, his punches are too wide and leave him open to counter attack._ Killua was sure of one thing though. Naruto was the type to learn by doing. Now that he had someone to properly train him outside of the classroom setting, he would improve dramatically. He wouldn't become a jounin immediately, but they could get him up to chunin in a year.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Really, though, I do appreciate it. So, Naruto is getting trained. As for this, Naruto will improve but not drastically. It's unrealistic for Naruto to be insanely strong without any actual combat experience aka "life endangerment." He's going to be just a little bit stronger than genin.**


	20. Shukaku

**Shukaku**

Kurapika shifted his position as two medics came dashing past carrying a Suna shinobi on a cloth stretched. "My arm! M-my arm! Do something!" He screamed in bloody murder as he passed by. His left arm was a tangled mess of gore and his face covered in crimson liquid from the lacerations. He wouldn't be returning to duty anytime soon.

Kurapika grimaced. It wasn't unusual to see shinobi in critical condition being carted to the hospital as teams returned back home from missions. The majority of the missions appeared to be suicide missions, a ten percent chance of survival. The thought made the sights of hopeless battles all the more gruesome. One of the sand siblings, Temari, turned to him with a grim expression.

"You are probably wondering why the majority of our shinobi come back looking like that man. I can see that you have already guessed the recent percentage of mission success rates. Your guess would be correct." Kurapika remained blank and unreadable. The girl had seen through his expression that easily? "It's been like that lately. The wind daimyo outsource all the jobs to Konoha. This leaves us with the jobs Konoha doesn't want to take. If we want to stay competitive against the other Great Nations, we have to take the jobs." Kurapika frowned and shook his head. He didn't know these people well nor was it his place to comment. He wanted to get the job over with then find Gon, Killua, and Leorio. He wasn't in a rush. The others—except maybe Leorio—could handle themselves.

_Gyo!_ Kurapika observed the shifting chakras surrounding Gaara. The boy had felt unstable when the man had passed them by. A darker, red chakra was shifting and medling with Gaara's energy. If he hadn't been convinced by now, Kurapika could ascertain that chakra was a toxic energy. It seemed to bring corruption and strife wherever he went in this world; however, he had never seen it as chaotic as the red chakra surrounding the boy.

**"Oh? You are interested?"** White hot pain flashed in his mind and his knees buckled beneath him. The world became dark and faded. The sound of water lapping against a shore echoed in the void. Kurapika peeked open his eyes and gasped. Before him stood a beast of unimaginable proportions. _ A raccoon_ _dog? This is not like any I've seen before! The rumors about magical beasts coming from here must be true then…_

The beast spoke with sadistic joy, crouching down so that he was face to face with Kurapika. "You decided to go poking around. You wanted to know, so now you know!" He backed away, tail swishing in curiosity. "It's not every day I meet a human that doesn't possess chakra. I dare say it is similar to nature chakra." Not one to be pushed around by larger opponents, Kurapika didn't back down.

"Nature chakra. Do you mean the strands of energy I keep sensing around all of us?"

"So you can constantly sense nature chakra? And here I though only the Sage of Six Paths could do that!" He let out a round of laughter. "It takes years of meditation to sense the energies of the world, yet you haven't me the requisite age of 'old man.'"

"My people constantly observe the world around us in order to be in sync with our own abilities and our surroundings. It requires constant meditation and controlling of one's own aura." Shukaku remained silent. The moment stretched into awkward silence before it spoke again.

"I see. You're one of them. A nen user. It's been over two hundred years since your kind clashed with our own. They always did say nen users were masters of nature. I see why now." He shooed Kurapika away with his hand. "You no longer interesting. Go away human," Shukaku hissed with contempt.

The background faded back into reality. Rough hands were shaking his shoulders trying to get his attention. It was Kankuro. "Man," he said, "what got into you? You were just frozen staring ahead like a zombie or something." Kurapika shook his head.

"Can you handle Gaara for a while? I have something I want to ask the Kazekage."

"Huh? Um, sure."

"Sorry." Kurapika vanished leaving a confused Kankuro.

"What just happened?"


	21. Academy Rematch

**Academy Rematch**

Students lined up one by one to see the biggest rematch of the week. It was always the most entertaining but poorest matchup of the day. The last loyal Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha, always gave Naruto Uzumaki a face full of dirt. This was followed by numerous, colorful cursing and a chance to mock the class clown responsible for forcing class pop quizzes and harder tests.

Iruka could tell Naruto had changed. It was strange but not unwelcome. The boy's pranks had drastically diminished to once a week and even then it was minor. He was no better at creating clones, but there was a definite improvement in chakra control. Iruka's eyes strayed over to the new students. They were the biggest mystery of all. He could easily mistake their stances for a high-level chunin or low-level jounin. The white haired kid, especially, sent his nerves on end. Naruto's demeanor had changed with their coming. They were definitely behind Naruto's change.

"Next match, Sasuke Uchiha versus Naruto Uzumaki!" There was no boisterous shouting as Naruto confidently met Sasuke at the middle of the ring. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in confusion. The idiot had never acted like this before, so what was with the sudden change?

Meanwhile, Killua was sporting a nasty grin. _Are you confused yet, Sasuke Uchiha? Just because you are the "Last Uchiha" doesn't mean anything in the face of my student's rigorous training. I doubt Naruto can beat you yet but he will in time._Naruto succeeded in dodging a flurry of strikes from Sasuke. Naruto grinned and launched a fist towards Sasuke's face. _He still naïve and swings too wide. _Killua's eyes drifted over to Sasuke's trained form. _You still have some kinks to work out in your own style though._

"Killua, you seem like you're having fun." Gon commented.

"Ah. It's been awhile since I've seen someone with a will like Naruto's. He reminds me of you."

"You think so? I don't know about that. I think he still has some issues to work out." Gon's face was contorted in thought.

"Gon, don't think too hard. You have steam coming out your ears."

"Ahh!" Gon exclaimed, completely ignoring Killua, "He has two chakra signatures. Why didn't I notice this before?" Killua frowned and activated Gyo. Indeed, there was a swirling red mass mixing with the boy's own insane chakra capacity.

"Gon, we absolutely need to look into that later. I feel it holds the key to something."

Gon nodded and focused back on the match. "Go Naruto!" Gon jumped up and down with excitement. "You can do it!"

Unaware of his teachers' observations, Naruto had prepared for the spar._ I need to get serious,_ Naruto frowned, _and that means I have to act professionally. That's what Killua said, and Gon backed him up so… _His fingers came up in a reluctant sign of challenge. Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction before his own hand came up in a sign to accept the challenge.

"Begin!" The hand came down and the combatants launched themselves at each other. Naruto shifted to avoid the punch aimed to knock the air out of his lungs. He scooted backwards a few paces to put distance before launching a counterattack with a right hook. Sasuke blocked it with his left arm and sent a kick towards Naruto's face.

Both of them leapt backwards gasping for breath. _What is with him?_ Sasuke thought, _he wasn't this good a week ago! It had to be those students. I knew they weren't normal. They had to be training this loser!_

"Stop spacing out Sasuke!" He ducked under Naruto's roundkick. Sasuke smirked and sent Naruto flying out of the ring with a well-placed kick to the back. The blonde coughed as Sasuke stood over him with a smirk.

"Idiot. You really thought I wasn't paying attention?" Naruto growled and dusted off his clothes. Sasuke won this match, but he would be him someday. The two stared for a moment before giving the traditional bow of respect.

"One day I will beat you."

"I'd like to see you try." Naruto glared and backed off. Gon was giving him a thumbs up when he arrived back at his place in the line. "I did terrible."

"You did just fine," Gone said trying to cheer him up, "It takes practice."

"Ah." Killua gave him a pat on the back. "We'll get you to the top. You can be sure of it!" Killua smirked. _And I get to see that arrogant Uchiha get his butt handed to him. _ Killua wanted to fight the kid—teach him a lesson in overconfidence. He never could stand jerks.

If Sasuke wasn't careful, he would kill him.

**…**

In the hokage's tower, the hokage had been carefully monitoring Killua and Gon. He was starting to suspect that Kakashi had pawned them off on Iruka. Kakashi's motives for doing so were unclear, but it was most likely to keep them out of the field for as long as possible. It was obvious these two did not belong in the academy.

"Cat."

There was a flash of black and white revealing a young female ANBU. Hiruzen placed a stack of papers on the desk in front of him. He had started to get bad sensations lately, and there were several loose ends he had to tie up. One loose end called Itachi Uchiha. He needed correspondents loyal to him to continue spying for him in the worst case scenario. "Sir." Cat bowed her head and awaited orders.

"An undercover spy of ours is to receive this package. It will tell him what to do. However, you are not to see his face. He will be located on the border between River and Fire, so I want you to find an appropriate hiding spot. I will send him word of its location."

"Yes sir!" Cat was used the  
hokage's unusual request. There were things that she was better off not probing into.

"Also," he cleared his throat, "I want to place two new boys underneath the care of ANBU. They have been masquerading as academy students, but their skill sets are too high for the academy. I want you to outfit them with bingo books and give them this mission…" he handed the sealed commission off to Cat. "Tell them they are to graduate from the academy by the end of this week."

"Sir!"

"Dismissed." Cat vanished in a swirl of leaves. Hiruzen laced his fingers together and leaned forward on his desk.

All the pieces were in place. This time, Itachi would have somebody who knew the whole story. He knew the boy had left clues that led to the truth hidden all over the nations, but he had yet to see a single person solve the puzzle. These hunters though, seemed accustomed to unusual twists and turns.

They would discover the truth long after he had passed.


	22. The Hokage's Missive

**The Hokage's Missive**

Gon and Killua had been assigned a roomy, moderately furnished apartment and an allowance for the duration of their stay in Konoha. Ironically, the remodeled apartment was unwanted due to its close proximity to Naruto's apartment. It was by no means a terrible location—just feared. The smarter of Konoha's citizens, namely shinobi, were able to get cheap housing to make up for the pay of the average chunin.

Gon yawned loudly as he opened the door to pick up the newspaper. He never read it, but Killua liked to keep up with the events of this world. Killua was the strategist outside of battle, so he left a good portion of it up to Killua's planning. Killua would simplify for Gon, and Gon would help decide whether or not to go ahead with the strategy. In the long run, Gon just didn't understand the intense political relationships between countries.

He picked up the newspaper and took a step back. His foot hit a Manila envelope sealed with the Third Hokage's official stamp and seal. He picked it up and stared at the object in his hands. It had not been there seconds ago. He may be half asleep, but there was no way he let his guard down. He turned it over, carefully weighing it in his hands.

_If this is a trap, Killua would be better at disarming it._ There was thump and a couple of black books slipped through the mail slot in the door. A slip of white paper with a handwritten note came shortly after. Gon plucked it from its resting spot and read it aloud:

_The Hokage has deemed your skill sets above that of requisite genin level; you will be graduating from the academy by the end of the week. The packet contains information and a mission at the behest of the Hokage, and the books are bingo books given to all shinobi in the village above genin rank. Burn the mission instructions when you have them memorized._

Gon turned over the note and found nothing on the back. It must be a letter from the ANBU, the strange people in masks, he had seen when they first landed here. He palmed through the book taking note of all the faces in it. _It said the book was given to all those above genin rank, so the hokage overruled what Kakashi decided. _

"Gon," Killua tapped him on the shoulder, "What is that?"

"This?" Gon held out the envelope and second bingo book to Killua. "The note said it's a mission from the hokage. We're being promoted above genin rank."

"A note? You didn't open it yet did you? It could be a trap."

Gon shook his head. "No. I thought the same thing. It's weird. Do you know why they wouldn't speak of the mission?"

"Hm. The hokage didn't want to attract attention by summoning two academy students to his office. It would be better to send a trusted officer with a sealed letter containing pertinent information." Killua ripped open the envelope with his claws. There was a fizzling noise. "And it is probably rigged to identify a user's unique signature. If anyone besides us had opened it, we would be in for something nasty."

"Hey Killua, this guy looks like Sasuke." Gon pointed to the picture on the top of the page. "Itachi…Uchiha? Does this mean that Sasuke has relatives? I've never seen him with any family members, so I assumed he was an orphan."

"He is called the last Uchiha but it seems that's not entirely true. Gon, try to find this guy in your bingo book." Killua continued to swipe through the papers. Gon flicked the pages until he arrived at the U's.

"Let's see…found him." Gon and Killua bent over the page. "He's an S-rank missing-nin wanted for the massacre of the Uchiha clan."

"He killed off his entire family? He would fit right in with the Zoldycks."

"Not everyone. There's still Sasuke." Killua gasped as it hit him. The papers wanted them to hunt down Itachi Uchiha, which in itself was suspicious, but why would he leave only his younger brother alive? He wouldn't be a threat currently, but it wasn't hard to tell he would be in the future. The hokage wanted them to search for something. There was a missing variable in the entire equation.

"What else does it say?"

"He killed of the clan at the age of thirteen in the dead of night. He is the youngest ANBU captain in Konoha's history—a prodigy. He has the ability to use the Mangekyo sharingan. There's a notice stating for anyone below ANBU to flee on sight. A statement gathered from Sasuke claims he did it all to test his abilities."

"So he's insanely strong and power hungry."

"Yeah, but it seems strange that he assassinated even little kids. His personality sounds like Hisoka but then it doesn't seem right." Gon was right. It seemed outrageous. All the people who desired power or had power wouldn't bother killing off babies. There wasn't any challenge in that. Sasuke would have been more of a challenge than babies, yet he was left alive.

Killua decided that perhaps the letter from the Hokage would give more clues. The papers were a little more in depth about the statements of that night, but altogether said more or less the same thing. "Here's the letter from the hokage."

_Due to recent events, such as the reappearance of hunters in recent years, I have determined it best if we investigate the strange happenings in the village. There is reason to believe that someone is manipulating the people of this village. That being said, Hunters have always been the best equipped and reliable people for completing covert missions. _

_I want you to investigate Itachi Uchiha. Recent observations had led to me to the possibility of a third party intertwining itself with the affairs of our village. I will be placing a genin team under the command of Kakashi Hatake, but I want you to supervise missions outside of the village and training. Kakashi has never been a good judge of personalities and potential, as you have experienced for yourself, and his students are important figures in the village. In one week, you will be moved up to your original position of special jounin. You will be treated as ANBU, so you will be known as genin outside of field work._

_I understand that my reasoning may be complicated, but it will make sense in the future._

_Burn this letter when you are done._

"Gon, it seems the massacre is kept locked up. This means that whatever the reason, there is more to it. What do you think we should do?"

"It could be a trap, but I think it'll be interesting. He mentioned the hunters have started reappearing so maybe we will find the missing expedition if they came up with the same conclusion."

Killua was surprised. Gon usually didn't think so deeply, but he supposed the Chimera Ant incident had altered his tactical thinking. Gon wasn't as reckless as he used to be. "Alright, I guess we should tell the hokage we accept the mission once we graduate." Killua turned on the gas stove and held the letter above the blue flame. The letter blackened and crumbled. No one would find out the hokage's suspicions.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was hard to set up and write. I kept trying to think of ways to start off this subplot, and I kept coming up with difficulties. Hopefully it doesn't sound too ridiculous. I figured it was more reliable than Sasuke just randomly blabbing about a tragic event. Sasuke hardly spoke about it to Naruto. I doubt he would tell his life's story to Gon or Killua.**


	23. Graduation

**Graduation**

Whispers of discontent flew among the classrooms occupants. Normally, Sasuke did not pay attention to the idiotic ramblings of his classmates, but this particular instance grated on his nerves. His eyes flicked to the corner where a group of boys were muttering among themselves.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Idiot how could you not know? Those new kids are graduating early. They'll be gone by this afternoon."

"What? I knew they were good but they are that good? I guess they did manage to beat up Sasuke though." Sasuke's eye twitched at the comment. He didn't need a reminder of his embarrassment. It was just as bad as…as when Itachi beat him. There was something about Killua that vaguely reminded him of Itachi. The little that he was reminded of though made him want to strangle the silver-haired boy, if only to wipe the smirk off of his face.

All of this just served as a painful reminder of how weak he really is. Killua was probably laughing behind his back. The thought sent his temper rising. He kicked out from behind his desk and stalked out of the room leaving behind stunned classmates. "Geez what's his problem?"

There was a chuckle as from Killua. He had happened upon Sasuke's vengeful nature showing its fangs. Frankly, he was amused. It was like a puppy trying to intimidate a wolf. Killua hummed in contemplation at the thought. He could probably get a rile out of Sasuke if he said something like that. He laughed inwardly. Yes, it would be a priceless expression—one of many. "Don't mind him. He just can't stand someone being better than him."

"Sounds about right. Those Uchiha always seemed to think that before they all died. I guess he's no different." Killua frowned at the wayward comment. Sasuke had potential, but he had begun to stray from the appropriate path (though he still wouldn't like him). Due to the unknown factors and circumstances, the comment was uncalled for. At worst, it was insensitive. Well, he wasn't the one to point out such things. He was rude on a regular basis, so he wasn't about to call someone out.

Gon had gone chasing after Sasuke. He was met with a sharp glare meant to ward him back. All it succeeded in doing was spurring on Gon's friendly nature. "You're Sasuke Uchiha right? I don't think we've been properly introduced." Gon extended his hand. Sasuke made a disgusted face and swatted the hand away. "Don't mind Killua. He is always like that when it comes to fighting."

"…how did you manage to graduate so quickly?" The words came out just above a whisper. Gon frowned. So this is what he was mad over?

"Killua and I were already cleared by the hokage. One of his jounin thought it was bad we didn't know our basic history and stuff so he put in for us to be sent back to the academy."

"So it was an unnecessary nuisance in other words."

"Well, it wasn't completely unnecessary. I got to meet tons of new people!"

"Tch." Sasuke turned around. "You're just like that idiot Naruto but only slightly less annoying. I'm leaving."

"We know about the massacre." Sasuke froze. Was he suggesting they knew something about his brother that he didn't?

"Do you want to know the truth?" Gon's lips tilted up in his sly smile. "Killua and I have some leads; however, we need your personal experience with Itachi. Reports will only go so far." Sasuke lunged at Gon, lifting him up by the collar, and snarling in his face.

"Why the hell would outsiders be trying to learn about the massacre?" Gon didn't even flinch.

"Haven't you thought that everything was suspicious? It's strange isn't it?" Gon had him baited. He was falling for this manipulation of words. He didn't even think this idiot was capable of manipulation! Killua's face flashed through Sasuke's mind. Him! Killua was the one who put Gon up to this!

"Killua put you up to this didn't he?"

"Nope. We know somebody with similarities to the Uchiha clan. He has red eyes too. We wanted to know more about the clan because of this." Gon's collar slid from his loose grip, hands falling limply at his sides. If these two could lead him to some sort of closure about the massacre—if there was a truth—then he shouldn't reject it. These two were prodigies in fighting. He could swipe some jutsu from them at the same time.

"Fine. I'll tell you later. Shouldn't you be going to your graduation?"

"Ahh! I forgot! Bye Sasuke!"

"Tch. Idiot."

* * *

**A/N: So I got really sick and wasn't able to write. I had forgotten where I had been so I had to get back into writer's mode before my fandoms drifted again. The story will pick up speed because I am almost done with the introduction.**


End file.
